The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in the wake of reports that classified software made its way to terrorist Osama bin Laden, yesterday said the FBI internal security safeguards will be a major focus of pending committee hearings. 

     Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, said he is concerned that the country«s internal security will be breached if federal authorities are unable to keep classified information from "outside enemies."

     "We have spent millions of dollars on computer security for federal agencies, and much of it goes to the FBI," Mr. Leahy told The Washington Times. "Keeping secrets from outside enemies of this country is only as good as our internal security.

     "If the FBI is doing a poor job on internal security, all the money in the world will not effectively keep outsiders from breaching our most critical and secure systems," he said, adding that the committee would hold as yet unscheduled oversight hearings on the FBI internal security safeguards.

     Mr. Leahy's comments came in the wake of reports in yesterday«s editions of The Times that Robert P. Hanssen, a former FBI agent now awaiting trial on federal espionage charges, gave sophisticated software to his Russian handlers that later was sold to bin Laden for $2 million.

     House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Republican, also has said he intends to hold oversight hearings this year in the Hanssen case. Mr. Sensenbrenner told reporters he wanted to know what protections the FBI had built into its internal security system "against double agents as a result of the Hanssen case."